E-Beam and Solar Thermal Driven Oxygen and Metal Production from Lunar Regolith

NASA envisions commercial operations will start with production of tens of metric tons of oxygen per year but will evolve into hundreds to thousands of metric tons of a variety of commodities including oxygen, water, propellants, construction, and manufacturing feedstock. NASA also envisions that commercial lunar mining and processing systems will adhere to the principles of ethical and responsible use of space, especially those identified in Moon to Mars Objectives and Artemis, Ethics and Society: Synthesis from a Workshop publications. NASA published in 2021 a system concept that illustrates the separation of oxygen and metals from lunar regolith by combining an electron beam (E-beam) with concentrated sunlight.